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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Happy Holidays, Everyone! I am delighted to partner up with Penguin Random House to give you this opportunity to win two copies of Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein written by Amanda Peet, and Andrea Troyer, with illustrations by Christine Davenier.

Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein is a sweet story about a young Jewish girl who absolutely loves Christmas and wants nothing more than for Santa to come visit her house. While she may not get what she wishes for, there is a happy ending. We're talking serious cuteness!

A little background on the folks behind the book:

Amanda Peet is
an actress and playwright. Her first play, "The Commons of Pensacola,"
starring Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker, opened to critical
acclaim in 2014 at Manhattan Theater Club. A native of New York, Peet
graduated from Columbia University with a degree in American History.
She has appeared in numerous films, including "Please Give," "Syriana,"
"Something's Gotta Give," and "The Whole Nine Yards." She also starred
in the TV series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and the Broadway
revival of Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park." Peet stars in a new
comedy series, "Togetherness" for HBO, debuting in fall 2014.

Andrea Troyer grew
up in Minnesota and received an MFA from the University of California,
Irvine. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young boys.

Christine Davenier
is the illustrator of many children's books, including Julie Andrews's
"The Very Fairy Princess" series. She lives in Paris, France.

Here comes the giveaway part:

CELEBRATE TOGETHER Prize Pack

Come together with friends celebrating different holidays! One winner will receive 2 copies of Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein, one to keep, and one to share.

To receive two copies of Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein leave a comment here, like our Facebook Page, or follow me on Instagramand leave a comment on the post. A winner will be selected at random and announced on Wednesday, December 2nd.

**Giveaway open to US addresses only. Prizing and samples provided by Penguin Random House.#RachelRosenstein #XmasEnvy #ad

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Howdy! Last spring I purchased two packs of toy cars with the intention of making a matching game that never happened. Flash forward to the new school year and a burst of creative energy and I have a freebie for you!

use folded scrapbook paper for a background

a piece of tape stages where to place each vehicle

tiny vehicles!

The cars came from T.J. Maxx and were $2.99 each (for a pack of five). Score! I created a mini photo studio by placing the vehicles on two different colors of textured scrapbook paper near a natural light source. Before printing, I upped the brightness and saturation of the photos and cropped them for a tighter visual. I then used PicMonkey to add two pictures to one photo so that the finished size would be about the size of a business card. Photos were printed at a photo kiosk, cut by hand, and then laminated by me.

To set up, I popped the vehicles into a small basket and set out the cards. I was interested to see what the children would do.

Turns out, they did exactly what I intended, along with some hoarding and some playing. For an added bonus, I demonstrated how the cars moved when you pulled them back a little and released them. The children soon found out that if you pulled back for too long the car would break. No worries though, they were still able to match 'em up!

For clean up, the cars were returned to the basket along with the cars. When we were looking for the cars, we played the matching game to discover which cars were missing and then used the card to identify the runaway! The children loved it!

I can't sell you a pack of cars but I can offer up access to the cards. Save as a PDF and print put two copies of each photo and you have an instant matching game! Enjoy! (Let me know if you are having any issues)

Friday, November 6, 2015

One of our favorite books that we revisit every year is The Quilt by Anne Jonas. I've had a lot of fun over the years coming up with different activities that focus on squares and/or sewing. Some are a hit and some are a miss. Last year we did a month-long study on the Women of Gee's Bend and I am kicking myself over the photos I did not take! They may be there but I cannot find them at this time. We just finished up our week of The Quilt and so while it was on my mind, I thought I would share some of the activities we have done over the years.

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All images and content (c) 2007 - (c) 2018, Jessica Wilson, unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use of images or content without permission is prohibited. Please give me a shout out if you have any questions!